Workman shines as PawSox close in on wildcard

Friday

Aug 29, 2014 at 11:00 PMAug 30, 2014 at 9:34 AM

Jay MillerFor The Patriot Ledger

The Brandon Workman they were looking for in Boston the past few months showed up in Pawtucket Friday night. The righthander, demoted from Boston last Wednesday, after his big league record this year fell to 1-8, handcuffed the Syracuse Chiefs masterfully for 6.2 innings last night, en route to a 2-1 win for the playoff-contending PawSox before 6588 fans at McCoy Stadium.

Workman, 7-1 at Triple-A this summer, held the visitors to just three hits while fanning six. He held the Chiefs hitless for the first four innings, and their first hit was his only serious mistake, as Syracuse third baseman Brandon Laird led off the fifth inning with a long home run over the Pawtucket bullpen in left field.

Currently in second place in the International League's North Division, Friday night's win pulled the PawSox (78-63) within 1.5 games of the first place Chiefs (79-61). More importantly, with Rochester beating Buffalo 3-2, Pawtucket holds a two game lead over Rochester for the wild card, and three games over Buffalo. With three games remaining in the regular season and the PawSox season ending Monday against Rochester, the prospect of Pawtucket qualifying for the postseason for the fourth year in a row is becoming more likely. Syracuse, meanwhile, hasn't been in the playoffs since 1998, so the Chiefs will be hoping to get back on track Saturday when they meet Pawtucket again, with righthander Matt Barnes pitching for the home team, and A.J. Cole hurling for the Chiefs in the 6:05 p.m. contest.

But Friday night's spotlight was certainly the performance from Workman, who worked fast and worked efficiently, with a fastball that settled in the low-90 miles-per-hour range and a cutter that baffled Chiefs' batters.

"I thought like Brandon Workman had a good pace tonight, and real good feel for his cutter," said Pawtucket manager Kevin Boles. "He wasn't always getting his breaking ball in there for strikes, but it had good action low, and he had a quick hand with his changeup. He was also just effectively aggressive in the strike zone."

While Boles wouldn't say that had been a focal point when he was sent down, Workman's brisk pace seemed to keep Syracuse off balance as much as it kept the PawSox alert defensively.

"I think the main thing was he was working in the zone, and the tempo of his delivery tonight was very consistent," said Boles. "Everything was in synch for him tonight, that cutter was a real weapon, and I felt like he worked very well with catcher Dan Butler. Brandon really pitched well against a quality lineup, because Syracuse has some real hitters."

With Workman departing after 108 pitches (68 for strikes), Pawtucket righthanders John Ely (one inning) and Dailer Hinojosa (1.1 inning) turned in near-spotless relief, allowing no hits. But there was some nerve-wracking tension to the final frame, as Hinojosa--the closest thing to a closer the PawSox have currently--walked a man in the ninth. With one out, Laird sent left fielder Justin Henry to the warning track. Then with two down, DH Destin Hood cranked a fly ball that had Henry leaping against the fence for the final out.

"Our bullpen was strong," said Boles, whose team had just returned from a six-game road trip where they went 3-3. "It was also very limited in numbers, and Ely was only going to be able to give us that one inning. 'Hino' came in and did what he does so well. I'm not sure about that last ball, I'd have to see the replay to know if it would've been out if Justin hadn't caught it, but it was close enough."

The other storyline Friday was Ryan Lavarnway, esrtwhile catcher, now first baseman/outfielder/DH/forgotten man, coming back from yet another buzzard's luck stint on the disabled list. This last week on the sidelines came after Lavarnway, catching again with Christian Vazquez in Boston, took a foul ball off the facemask August 22, and suffered a concussion.

Last night Lavarnway, at DH in his first game back, supplied all the offense Workman would need with a two-run moonshot homer in the fourth inning. Lavarnway also doubled in the second frame, improving his average to .290, with just his third circuit clout, in a season where nagging injuries have robbed him of a chance to get back to Fenway Park when they really needed some offense. Clearly, by shifting him around to first base and the outfield, the Red Sox organization was hoping to make Lavarnway a sort of Mike Napoli-2.0, but he wasn't healthy enough to put up the kind of early numbers that would lead to a promotion. The Yale product may still get a look in September, but it's been a frustrating season for him.

Another facet to Friday's win was definitely the classy shortstop play of Deven Marrero, who may be scuffling at a .218 batting average since his July 2 ascension to AAA, but has shown some topnotch fielding abilities. Marrero had two outstanding plays last night, both against Syracuse left fielder Jeff Kobernus.

In the third stanza, with two men on base, Marrero scooped a Kobernus grounder up the middle, stepped nimbly across second base and fired to first for the doubleplay. In the sixth inning, Marrero went deep into the shortstop hole, far behind third base, turned and fired a strike to nab Kobernus again. Once his hitting catches fire, Marrero appears to be well worth the first round pick Boston expended on him in the 2012 draft.

"That was some pretty shifty footwork from Marrero in the third to get doubleplay," said Boles. "He's shown himself to be very athletic in his time here, and that throw from deep in the hole was also very impressive. He's been reading pitches well defensively, getting good location, and just playing terrific baseball, moving around out there."

Pawtucket closes out its series with Syracuse Saturday at 6:05 p.m., followed by a 6:05 p.m. game Sunday against Rochester, with highly touted southpaw Henry Owens on the mound, before closing out the regular season with a 1:05 p.m. game Monday. If the playoffs were to begin with the teams in their current positions, Pawtucket would host Syracuse Wednesday night in the series opener, with a second game Thursday, before the best-of-five series shifted back to Syracuse for the final three games (if necesasary). Playoff tickets are now on sale at McCoy Stadium.